Ectober 2019 Hosted By Fruitloopghost
by quishaweasley
Summary: Collection of fics based off of Fruitloopghost's prompt list.
1. What If?

They lay tangled together on the couch, limbs wrapped around one another as they wrestled the others down. Cheers sounded throughout the room as two of the three managed to pin the third to the back of the couch.

"We win, Sam! What're you gonna do about that?"

Sam rolled her eyes and shoved harshly, pushing both boys off the couch and onto their butts on the floor. They groaned.

"Tucker! We had her! If you had just let her be then we would've won!"

"Do you really think she wouldn't have pushed us off anyways, Danny?"

Danny opened his mouth to bark back a reply before pausing and looking away.

He mumbled.

"What was that, pal of mine? I don't think I heard what you said."

"I guess you're right, Tucker!" Danny shouted.

"Ah, yes." Tucker said, crossing his arms behind his head as he closed his eyes and leaned back. "That's what I like to hear."

Danny snorted and shoved Tucker as Sam stood up from her spot on the couch.

"I'm gonna make some popcorn. Do you guys want anything else?"

"A soda, please!"

"A steak!."

Snorting, Sam walked into the kitchen.

The boys wasted no time in scrambling up onto the couch, taking up as much room on it as they possibly could before Sam could come back.

Tucker sighed contently as he wiggled his way further into the couch, arms once again crossed behind his head with his eyes shut.

"This is the life. Hanging out with your friends, no homework, the weekend."

Danny chuckled. "I know, man. It feels great.

"Just a normal night."

That sentence struck something inside of Danny. His brows furrowed as confusion filled his head.

"Tucker were we supposed to do something tonight?"

"No, why?" Tucker asked, sitting up as he looked over at Danny.

"I don't know." Danny said, staring down at his hands. "It feels like there was something we had planned is all."

Tucker spread his arms wide around him. "We had this planned. Maybe Sam was talking to you about the movies she wanted to watch."

"Maybe. What movies was she-" Danny's voice caught as he looked up at Tucker only to see something glinting in his eyes. What was that? It was almost as if Tucker's eyes reflected light like a cat.

"Danny? What's wrong?"

Danny tumbled off the couch away from Tucker. His eyes were starting to darken until they were a reflective black pit. Tucker's brows drew down as he stood up and stalked towards him.

Rolling to the side, avoiding a tackle from Tucker, Danny's head filled with static and his eyes unfocused.

This isn't real.

Danny watched as Tucker approached him, sending him back away until he bumped into something. Spinning around Danny looked up into Sam's pitch black eyes, as shiny and iridescent as Tucker's.

What was happening? Where was Danny? Where was he supposed to be? What happened to Sam and Tucker?

"What's wrong Danny?" Cooed Sam. "Don't you want your soda?"

Danny backed up into he met with Tucker instead who wrapped his arms around Danny's arms and torso, restraining him.

"Danny how do you feel about going goth? Tucker tried it and he's absolutely thrilled! Can't you see it on his face?"

Tucker's face stretched into a too large, too pointy smile.

"You'll love it, Danny. There's nothing to be afraid of. All your worries and problems disappear. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Danny shook his head. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. They must've wiped his memory. Maybe one of his parent's inventions knocked him out. Maybe Nocturne-

His eyes widened.

Thrashing, Danny struggled against Tucker's hold, fighting to be released. Sam chuckled.

Leaning forward, Sam raised one hand to grab Danny's chin, forcing him to meet to bottomless black pits. She raised the other, clenched into a fist, and uncurled it. Sitting there in her hand was a pile of sparkling black dust. She blew it into his face and the world dimmed.

"It'll be okay, Danny. Trust me."


	2. Homecoming

Boxes were littered across the room. The bedframe was stripped of its sheets and mattress, leaving it bare. The room, once filled with life, was dull and empty.

Dash looked around at all his stuff packed away, boxes filled to the brim. Some things were being donated, a lot of it was merely being thrown away. His parents didn't feel the need to keep any memory of him in the house when he was gone it seemed like.

He yelled, shoulders raising, and kicked a box filled with trophies that said "donate". Breathing heavily, Dash turned at the sound of a footstep behind him.

Whipping around Dash was ready to snarl out a remark but stopped when he saw who it was.

Phantom stood there, mouth open and eyes filled with sadness.

"What are you doing here?" Dash grumbled.

"I- uh, what are you doing here?" Phantom asked nervously.

Dash gestured to the mess around him. "Packing to leave for college but apparently," Dash kicked the box of trophies again, "I'm not worth anything to them. They're trying to erase me from existence!"

"Dash…" Phantom said softly.

"They're acting like I'm dead! They pretend they can't see me! And every time I make a noise they jump and lower their eyes, acting like I'm not here! What's wrong with them? Why are they-? Why…"

Dash slowed down at the look on Phantom's face.

"No. No, I know what you're thinking. That's not what happened."

"Dash-"

"No!" Dash yelled, the sound reverberating in the walls. "I'm not dead! I'm not! I don't remember dying!"

"It was an accident, Dash. You-"

"No!" Dash covered his ears, squeezing his eyes shut.

"I thought you were the good guy!" Dash yelled suddenly, arms flying back down to his sides and his shoulders raised. "I thought you were supposed to protect us!"

"I-" Phantom started.

"I'm a ghost now? Are you going to stop protecting us when we're dead? What if Tucker died? Sam? Would you turn on them?"

Phantom took a sharp inhale of breath. "Dash, no. That's not- You haven't done anything terrible, right? You've just been in your house, upset?"

"Of course I'm upset! My parents are ignoring me!"

"No one else can see you anymore, Dash!"

Danny's yell left the room in startling silence.

"What?" Dash breathed.

"No one- no one can see you." Phantom whispered, looking away. "You're just a newly formed ghost and you're not very strong yet. And you've been here instead of inside the ghost zone."

Dash stared blankly at the floor.

"I'm dead?"

Dash sat down on the bed frame heavily.

Phantom nodded.

"How did I die?" Dash asked.

"Dash-"

"No, I want to know."

Sighing, Phantom spoke quietly, sitting down beside him on the empty bed frame. "You were at that party with Kwan. You guys got drunk and started messing with some Fenton gear that someone had bought. Kwan was playing with a bazooka when it suddenly charged up, blasting into you."

"Is Kwan..?"

"Kwan's fine. But, man." Phantom's head dropped into his hands and he grasped at strands of hair. "No one saw him for a couple weeks. We thought- we thought he-"

"Does he know it's not his fault?" Dash asked quietly.

Phantom shrugged. "Everyone's tried telling him. There are some people that blame him. Some people blame the Fenton's. It's just… It sucks."

Dash nodded. "Can we go talk to him?"

Phantom raised his head to met Dash's gaze. "Yeah, of course."

Together, Dash and Phantom floated across the room and through the wall, into the cool spring air.


	3. Bond

Kwan stomped through the halls, water dripping from the hair in his eyes. He was having a rough start to the day.

He missed the entire first period because he woke up only to find his door opened, as if his mom had come to wake him and then forgot. And what's worse is that she had left, taking the car and leaving him to run all the way to school in the rain.

Now he was trudging through the halls dripping wet with his backpack squeezed tightly onto his back. When had it gotten so small?

Just another thing to worry about.

As he was turning the corner into another hallway, a group of girls saw him, shrieking as they ran away. Kwan's face fell after noticing Paulina and Star in the group.

Was he really that menacing when he was angry about something?

He continued walking down the hallway when he heard someone spit something out.

Kwan looked up to see Mr. Lancer with coffee dripping down his face onto his blue shirt. Smiling sheepishly Kwan waved a greeting to Mr. Lancer who gave him a strange look and raised his hand in response.

Making his way to his locker, Kwan looked at the lock in confusion. When did he get so tall? He could've sworn the lock was higher than that.

After struggling to grab some books from the bottom of his locker, Kwan slammed the door shut, denting the metal, and made his way to class, grumbling.

He finally made it through the door and he heard another shriek as he sat down in his seat. Sighing, he pulled out his notebook and a pencil and waited for Lancer to arrive.

The bell rang and a few moments later Lancer walked in, nearly dropping his new cup of coffee, squinting at the seat Kwan was sitting in.

"Mr. Baxter, can I have a word with you in the hall for a moment?"

Kwan glance to his right, watching as the pencil balancing on Dash's nose fell to the desktop. He followed Lancer into the hallway and the door closed behind them.

He could hear quiet mumbling between the two through the door. Then loud shouting coming from Lancer.

"You will go in there and figure this out, Mr. Baxter!"

The door was ripped back open and Lancer walked in with Dash following him. Just as Kwan was about to open his mouth to ask what that was all about Dash walked up to him and just. Stared him straight into the eyes and squinted.

"Dude, what?" Kwan asked.

Dash nodded. "Yes, yes."

"WHAT?"

Suddenly, Dash turned around to face Lancer, who was standing near a group of students in the opposite corner of the classroom.

"It _is_ Kwan, Mr. Lancer!"

"Dash what are you talking about?" Kwan asked, dumbfounded.

Lancer's face was filled with skepticism. "Mr. Baxter how in the world is that Kwan?"

Dash groaned. "It just is. I know!" A look crossed his face before he was reaching into Kwan's backpack, pulling papers out.

"Hey!"

"Here!" Dash said, shoving the papers at Lancer.

A look of astonishment crossed onto Lancer's face. "Of Mice and Men! Is that really you, Mr. Phan?"

Kwan's brows furrowed. "Yes? Why wouldn't I be me?"

"You seem to be in quite the predicament." Lancer said as he pulled a mirror from a drawer in his desk and handed it to Kwan.

Kwan took it and held it up to his face, jaw dropping once he got a glimpse of himself.

His face was covered in hair. It was sticking out of his shirt. Looking down it was even covering his fingers. His face was slightly elongated like a wolf's and his eyes glowed.

"What..? How? When did this happen?" Kwan shouted.

"Mr. Baxter, would you take Kwan to the nurse? Maybe she'll be able to find a way to sort this out. Now, everyone else. Get back to your seats. We'll be starting at page 301."

Grumbling, Kwan shoved his papers and notebook into his backpack and followed Dash out of the classroom. Looking at him, Kwan asked a question.

"How did you know it was me?"

"Pft, c'mon dude. We're best friends. We have a bond that could never be broken. I just knew."

Kwan smiled. "Thanks ma-"

"Besides, I was the one who may have accidentally cast that hex on you. But I swear I still would have known anyways!"

"You what, Dash?!"

"I was trying to cast it on Fenton but I guess it didn't work."

"If it was you why are we going to the nurse's office?! Can't you fix this?!"

Dash scoffed. "I don't know how to undo it. That wasn't supposed to be part of the plan."

Kwan pushed Dash into the lockers while they walked.

"I hate you."

"No you don't."


	4. Illusion

"Don't worry Danny, we'll get you fixed up in no time!" Maddie said cheerily, the clang of metal against metal ringing through the lab.

Choking through a wet cough, Danny opened his eyes to gaze up at his mother. "There's nothing wrong with me."

She leaned down over him, looking through her red goggles. Reaching towards his face, she wiped off a splatter of red and green residue. "Nonsense! That must be the specter making you say such things." She tsked. "We'll be rid of it soon."

Danny's eyes widened.

"Mom, no. You don't understand-"

"It'll be over before you know it, sweetie. Once I put you under, all I'll have to do is remove the core the spook placed beside your heart."

"Mom you can't!"

Plugging in different tubes and canisters, Maddie spoke with a certainty.

"This illusion that you've been putting on won't work anymore. I've already seen what you've done to my baby boy. I can see through the mask you've made of his face. There's no way to escape your fate, ghost."

"But it's me, mom! It's Danny!"

Maddie lowered a mask down over Danny's nose and mouth and soon he was asleep.

"You will be, as soon as I have that core in my hands."


	5. Radiation

Light bounced against the panels of glass separating the three teenagers from one another. Machines were beeping at counters nearby and the scratching of pencils pierced the air around them.

One of the teenagers let out a loud groan.

"When can we leave?" She asked. "We feel totally fine. Why can't we just go home?"

A woman in a blue jumpsuit walked over, looking over a clipboard in her hand as she did so.

"Sam, I know that you, Danny, and Tucker had plans for today but you're all setting off our ghost detectors like crazy! We just need to make sure everything's alright."

"Mom, we're fine. We swear." Danny said through the glass.

Maddie set down her clipboard and walked up to the three glass quarantine cells, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"Ever since the accident the three of you have been more… Reclusive. You don't join us for dinner as often and, as I've heard from your parents, all three of you are missing curfew.

"We just want to find out exactly what happened during the accident. You've all looked so sick and tired lately. We just want to help."

Danny rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "We're teenagers, mom. Angsty, jaded teenagers."

"Danny!" Maddie said curtly. "This isn't the time to be joking! We're all worried about the three of you!"

"Worried enough that I've got a nurse stalking me around town." Sam muttered.

Speaking up, Tucker walked forward to catch Maddie's attention.

"I think I was supposed to be home by now, Mrs. Fenton. My parents must be worried sick. Are you sure we can't reschedule this for, I don't know, Wednesday instead?"

A door behind Maddie hissed open and two stoic agents walked into the room.

"Don't worry, children." One of them started. "Agent O and I have already informed your families about your containment."

All three teenagers bristled at the appearance of the two agents, the hair raising on their skin.

"What are you going to do to us?" Sam growled.

Maddie chuckled. "Don't worry! They're just here to help us conduct some tests and more thorough bloodwork."

"Why couldn't we have done this at home?" Danny asked uneasily. "You have the equipment there to do all of that."

"And we wouldn't have had to be locked up like we're contagious." Tucker muttered.

"It is protocol that any person experiencing ecto-contamination be brought into our custody. We don't know whether you're contagious or not and we'd rather be safe than sorry." Agent O said.

"Ectoplasm is a toxin and does not fare well when mixed into the human body. Once it gets into your bloodstream, there's nothing to stop it." Agent K leaned forward to study the three through the glass.

"But you three have lived far longer than anyone who's been exposed to that degree of radiation, electricity, and ectoplasm."

Standing up straight, he barked out an order. "Agent O! Prepare the examination room. Take Dr. Fenton with you." He smiled at the three of them diabolically as the other two adults left the room.

"We have some painful experiments to perform."


	6. Silence

Dash sat under a table in the library, knees pulled to his chest and his eyes squeezed shut. He couldn't hear anything anymore. The screams had died down and the ghost alarms had finally stopped blaring throughout the school.

He was still out there though. Dash could feel it. The chill in the air. The way the lights flickered every so often.

Dash didn't know what happened to the rest of the students. He didn't know if they managed to get out of the school or if he'd gotten them.

It had been so surreal. They'd all been in english class when his friends had started saying his name, asking if he was alright. Soon students began whispering, the volume raising until shrieks and screams had Dash turning around only to meet a gaze filled with a radioactive green glow.

It was then that Lancer pressed the ghost alarm button and everyone scrambled away, into the hallway and in different directions.

Dash startled out of his mind as he heard the step of sneakers on the tile floor. It echoed throughout the library, the sound piercing through Dash's chest.

His breathing sped up and he crossed his arms over his head, tucking his face into his knees, trying to keep quiet and make himself invisible.

The steps drew closer until the sound stopped. Dash peeked out from his legs to see a pair of red and white shoes pointed towards him. Inhaling a sharp breath, Dash watched as he kneeled down to look at Dash under the table.

Danny Fenton stared at him with radioactive eyes.

Moving forward, Danny shoved Dash to the floor and wrapped his hands around his neck. Dash gasped, trying to pry Danny's hand off of his neck and finding that the puny boy's grip was like iron.

Danny looked down at him unblinking and Dash's vision began to go hazy.

Through heavy lids Dash saw Danny's eyes flicker until all that was left was a baby blue gaze. Horror crossed over Danny's face and his hands released Dash's throat.

Dash sucked in a giant breath of air, staring at Danny. A normal Danny.

It was then that the other boy's eyes rolled back into his head, sending him falling to the floor beside Dash.

Dash didn't know what was going on. His whole body was telling him to run. But he crawled back across the floor and let out a small, nerve filled whisper.

"Danny?"


	7. Symbiosis

He didn't know how it was possible exactly, just that one day he'd strayed a little too close to a newly forming portal. He was caught inside it and pulled from the ghost zone and into a tunnel of swirling ectoplasm.

Pain flowed through his veins and into his nerves as gravity pulled him to the ground. He was struggling to stay awake when he realized he shouldn't have veins and nerves at all.

Pushing himself to his feet again, he trudged across the room to an oddly placed mirror and blinked as dual thoughts echoed through his mind at once.

_That isn't me_.

Looking in the mirror, he saw that while his colors remained the same, the face that stared back at him was not his own.

His head started spinning and just as he fell he could see white rings revealing a new appearance, a _human boy_.

He hit the ground, eyes falling shut and finally registered the other two people in the room. They were calling someone's name. Was it his name? No, they wouldn't know his name.

"Danny!"

His head turned to look at a hazy black and purple blob above him. He felt recognition click in a different part of his mind and his lips moved of their own volition.

"Sam?" They croaked out.

"Don't worry, Danny." His head drifted to the side and there was another person beside the girl. A brown and yellow blob. "We'll go get your parents. You're gonna be okay."

His head nodded and his eyes fell closed. Everything around him disappeared.

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

A couple months later, him and Danny were finally living in tandem. His ghost powers no longer conflicted with Danny so much and finally they were able to hold beakers in chemistry again.

Danny and his friends had started referring to him as Danny's ghost half. As Phantom. Danny never told them that Phantom was once his own entity, that they'd been melded together somehow.

Danny's friends quickly grew on Phantom and soon he enjoyed their outings just as much as Danny did. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had someone to talk to. He didn't think he had any friends inside the ghost zone. The human's dimension was much calmer. He wasn't always on the run, avoiding the warden ghost and his minions.

At some point he'd have to thank Danny for allowing him to stay with him.

Phantom doesn't know much about Danny from before their fusion, but he does know that he gets bullied a lot. Danny doesn't use his powers to defend himself very often, but Phantom doesn't know how Danny survived without his powers. At most he uses them to invisibly sneak away from Dash, but they were always getting stuck in lockers and wailed on. He was glad that while Danny wouldn't actively defend himself, he did use them every once in awhile for his own protection.

Both their lives were better than they were before, although there were some tradeoffs, such as lack of sleep and having to share a body. But Phantom didn't mind. Danny was someone he could call a friend.

A human-ghost symbiosis.


	8. Herbs

Danny lay on his back, eyes closed, as Sam rubbed an herbal paste she mixed together on his face. It was a cooling, calming, minty thing. She had listed all the ingredients to him before she started. He didn't listen.

Lately Danny has been having trouble with stress, sleeping, eating. Everything. He was having all sorts of nightmares and he _refused_ to go see a shrink. It couldn't be _that_. He was fine. He must just be stressing over school.

Danny's face twitched, feeling a burning sensation replace the cooling paste on his face. It spread over his body, sunk into his skin. He vaguely heard Sam calling out to him but her voice was muffled, like she were under water.

He felt something grab his wrist and his eyes snapped open.

Standing above his was his evil future self, smiling maniacally down at him. He was on the pavement outside the Nasty Burger once again, watching as the clock ticked down on his friends and family. As the container of nasty sauce exploded, sending him tumbling away.

Tears sprung into his eyes and he growled, jumping and pinning his future self to the ground.

"Why?! How could you?! You're going to pay! You need to pay!"

Danny lifted his hand up, forming an ectoblast in his hand when he felt a soft touch on his face. Looking down, he saw Sam, reaching up to him with a shaky hand. Soon the parking lot began fading away until they were left in Sam's bedroom.

Shaking, Danny pushed himself away from where he had pinned Sam to the floor. He tucked his face into his knees and wrapped his arms around his head.

He felt as Sam scooted over to him, quietly wrapping an arm around his shoulders. She whispered reassurances that fell flat to Danny's ears.

What was Danny supposed to do if he couldn't even keep his friends safe from himself? What if he had gone too far?

Slowly he registered that Sam had said Jazz's name and he peeked out from his position to see Sam hanging up her phone.

Maybe… Maybe Jazz would know where to start.

Silently, Danny tucked himself closer into Sam's side and waited for his sister to arrive.


	9. Identity

Oliver sat on the floor in the corner of his room, knees pulled up to his chest and blankly staring at a spot on his floor.

Growing up Oliver didn't have a dad. Well, he did. He just didn't know who he was. He sort of thought it was normal. His mom didn't really have a dad either.

But his mom sat down with him in the living room and told him of something horrible that happened a long time ago, when she was pregnant with him.

One day in the evening, a group of government officials stormed the haunted town, capturing any ghost they could get their filthy hands on. Both humans and ghosts alike disappeared that day. No one knew where any of them went.

They were just gone.

She mentioned that quite a few of the humans that disappeared were her friends from high school. One of them was his father.

_His father._

He never really thought much about his father before. There wasn't much to think about. But learning he disappeared during a ghost raid? Why were humans disappearing during a ghost raid?

A couple weeks had passed and Oliver felt a familiar prickling sensation creep along his skin. He figured it was just Vlad coming to visit. So when a knock sounded on the door Oliver didn't move from his seat on the couch.

He jolted when he heard his mom gasp at the door though, turning his head to see her looking out the door with wide eyes. She embraced whoever it was before pulling them inside. It was some guy he's never met before.

But then the man's gaze met Oliver's, and when his eyes widened and he paused at the sight of the boy, Oliver knew.

This man was his father.

They all sat down together while the man explained what happened. He had some kind of near death experience in high school and every since he's had some trace of ectoplasm inside him. Ghosts approached him, talked to him. He was even allowed in the abandoned house by the ghost who had resided there at the time.

When the ghost raid happened, the agents had burst into his home. Exclaiming something about how they've found another one with an ecto-signature.

Some other specters helped him out of the house and into some place called the ghost zone where he met up with some friends.

The man wasn't sure what this would mean for Oliver. If he had an ecto-signature of his own.

It was all too much and that's when Oliver locked himself in his room.

What did this mean? How could a human have an ecto-signature?

He was taking deep breaths when he heard it. The sound of boots on the roof, the sound of a window breaking. He heard a shout echo through his door.

"We've got two ecto-signatures here!"

Oliver's stomach dropped.


	10. Rain

It was raining in Amity Park. The streets were quiet and free of cars. Most people had turned in for the night, as late and wet as it was.

There was a stocky figure sitting on a bench near the park fountain. Blonde hair plastered to his head, raindrops trailing down his face. He sat unmoving, staring at a picture of himself and a black haired jock on his phone. They looked so happy. So full of life.

Tears welled in his eyes and soon they were joining the trails of rain on his face. His hand clenched around the phone and he let out a pain filled scream.

The sound was absorbed into the patter of rain, being swallowed by the clouds tears.

His friend was gone. His friend was gone and he hasn't come back yet. They live in a haunted town.

Why hasn't he come back?

That's what he didn't understand. Surely he would have come back? Taken so young, he had lots of unfinished business. Couldn't that be reason enough to stay?

He heard the drop of feet hitting the ground and looked up to see a white haired boy standing before him. Wiping his nose on his sleeve, he looked away.

He felt the other boy sit down beside him. Felt as an arm was wrapped around his shoulders. Before he could help himself, the tears came back harder and he leaned into the smaller boy.

They sat there and he cried. He cried and cried. Because he knew.

His friend wasn't coming back.


	11. Exorcism

"Now, Danny. We didn't want to have to do it this way. If you had just let us deal with this malevolent specter inside you we would be done already."

"Mads, when did Danny-boy get so strong? He clocked me in the face real good!"

"Don't be silly, dear. It's probably just the spirit inside him. Now, Danny. We'll be starting again."

Danny lay on an examination table, hands and feet strapped down, preventing him from escaping.

"There's no malevolent spirit inside me!" Danny yelled. "If you guys would just let me explain-"

"No, spook! We've seen his eyes glow. We know you're there."

Maddie turned on the overhead light, blinding Danny.

"No, you guys- you don't understand! This is me! I'm Danny!" He started pulling against his bonds.

"We understand perfectly, spook. We'll rid our boy of the evil inside him. You'll have no power over him."

She pulled a lever at the control panel and sparks began flying, the lights began flickering. Danny's screams tore through the lab and reverberated around them, sending many items crashing to the floor. It was over soon as Danny felt a familiar feeling. The feeling of himself splitting in half. The machine hummed down and Danny huffed in breath after breath. Opening his eyes, he looked up only for the air to catch in his throat.

There floating above him was himself. Except it was the wrong one.

Fun Danny was floating above Phantom, a twin look of horror on his face.

Looking down, Phantom saw his jumpsuit. The hair in front of his eyes was white. He still had his cape on. But he was too warm. He wasn't glowing.

He wasn't a ghost.

He finally met the gazes of his parents who both wore expressions of horror and confusion.

Out of the corner of his eye Phantom saw Danny float closer, and his mom's words rang in his ears once again.

_We'll rid our boy of the evil inside him. _


	12. Time

Time was a funny thing. It was supposed to keep going forward, no matter what.

But recently Tucker found out that it can go forward, backward, sideways. It wasn't as set in stone as he thought it was.

They had fought against this ghost of time. Clockwork. When they had escaped, it was to the future he was trying to prevent. The reason he was trying to kill Danny. How this all managed to happen because of stolen test answers, Tucker still had no idea.

When Danny's future evil self had come back, ready to destroy everything, Danny had almost managed to save them but wasn't quick enough. Clockwork had intervened though and set everything back to normal, back to during the CAT.

But Tucker remembers. Being strapped against that boiling machine that was about to explode at any moment. Being strapped against that boiling machine by his best friend. Being strapped against that boiling machine as it exploded, pain tearing through his body as he closed his eyes and pressed closer against Sam.

And then they were suddenly taking the CAT again.

Sam was in front of him, shooting Danny a look as he held the answers underneath his desk. Tucker was shaking while Sam simply sat there, her pencil scritching against the paper.

His heart dropped as he realized.

Sam didn't remember anything.

Why did Tucker remember anything? Why did he have to remember the sensation of being blown up? Of dying?

Danny eventually told them what happened. Tucker pretended not to know. What would Danny do if he knew Tucker remembered that? Danny would blame himself. Tucker didn't want that.

Tucker started having nightmares after that. They'd wake him up in the middle of the night, causing him to lose sleep. There was a night where he was staying at Danny's house and he had shot up in bed yelling, gasping for air. Danny shot up next to him, grabbing his arms, asking if he was okay.

Crying, Tucker finally told Danny. Told him that he remembered that day when they died at the Nasty Burger.

Danny was still for a moment until he pulled Tucker into a hug and mumbled a heartbroken apology.

Tucker shook his head in response to Danny. It wasn't his fault. That wasn't Danny. That's not who he is. He would never hurt him.

And Tucker believed that with all his heart.


	13. Familiar

He blinked and looked at his surroundings. He didn't know where he was or what was going on around him but…

Everything seemed so familiar.

There was a white haired kid flying around, shooting something out of his hands at another flying figure, this one with blue hair. He's sure he's seen both of them before but he can't remember either of their names.

Then there's the black haired jock beside him, trying to pull him up off the ground from where he must've fallen. Did he get knocked over? His head didn't really hurt all that much.

Distantly he could hear the jock next to him saying something. It sounded like a name. Was it his name?

_Dash, come on! Get up! We have to get out of here!_

Dash. That sounded right. It felt familiar on his tongue.

"What's your name?" Dash asked. "Who are you?"

The boy before him looked like he had a bucket full of ice water dumped all over him. His mouth hung open as he stared at Dash.

"I'm… I'm Kwan. I'm your best friend."

Dash's brows furrowed. Kwan sounded right too. Why couldn't he remember Kwan?

"Dash…" Kwan started slowly. "Do you know who that ghost is over there? The one in black and white?"

Looking over, the white haired ghost was still grappling with the other specter. He pursed his lips and squinted, trying to pull a name from his empty mind.

"No, he seems familiar though. Who is he?"

Kwan pulled on him again and Dash finally stood up.

"We need to leave, Dash."

As he was pulled away Dash turned to look at the ghost behind him. The ghost shot him a look back and their eyes met, a feeling shooting through his body. It wanted to draw him towards the other boy, not wanting to leave his side.

Who was he?


	14. Lucky Number

Three was her lucky number.

_ .THREE. Three turns of the lock on the door. _

It started when she was younger. When her grandma still lived on her own and they'd visit her quaint little house on the outskirts of town. Like all grandmas, she had a jar of candy. Today it was M&M's. Each time she snuck by the jar, she'd grab some.

_One. Two. Three._

The number three followed her in many of the things she did. It dictated how she counted. How many blankets she used. The number of times she saved a document.

There was a day she was scrapbooking and she glued down a picture of her and her friends.

_One. Two. Three. _

Threes were safe. They kept order in her life. They comforted her. Three times to check she had her wallet. Three times to check she had her keys. Three times to check she had her phone. And she was ready to go.

_One. Two. Three. _

The number of vines that shot out to grab someone.

_One. Two. Three._

The number of people trapped, ready for consumption.

_One. TwO. THREE. _

The number of days until he came back.

_ONE. TWO. THREE. _

The number of slashes from thorn covered vines it took to take him down.

_ .THREE._

The number of seconds until he transformed.

_Ơ̶͇̰̩͒Ǹ̸͉̊Ę̴̪̱̋.̶͖̤̬̾͒̋̀̀̓Ṱ̸̨̀̍͌̈́͘W̵͍̃̍̐̒Ȏ̶̧͉̤̱͖͂̆.̵͉̫͈̍T̵̡̳̗̝͔̃̆͒͒H̸̛̭̰̯̳͉͌̌́ͅR̵͚̊͊̉͂Ȅ̷͉̓Ẽ̴̡̺͚̳̀̓.̸̹̟̱͍̏͐̔̀̈́̕_

The number of minutes until he bled out.

_ONE. TWO. THREE._

The number of minutes she stood there and stared at him.

_ONE. TWO. THREE. _

The number of times she blinked.

_One. Two. Three._

The number of times she-

_One. _

_ Two. _

_ Three. _


	15. Folklore

"Now, Dannyboy. You've heard your mother and I talk about ghosts, right?"

A young Danny with shiny blue eyes and freckles smiled up at his dad, nodding his head as his hair went bouncing.

"They're like Casper, right? Casper the friendly ghost?"

Jack's eyes widened in horror. "Son, no! Who left that on the tv?" He sighed. "Ghosts are these dastardly things. They want to wreak havoc on all of mankind! They don't have any care for anything!"

"But Casper…" Danny pouted.

"Casper is a media portrayal of a ghost. A misleading one at that." Jack grumbled. He held his hand up and pointed a finger into the air. "But as your grandfather always told me-"

"Is grandpa a ghost?"

Jack faltered and his arm slumped down.

"Now, Danny… We've never seen him, but.. That's not something we need to worry about. It's best to remember him in life, not as he would be in death."

Danny nodded and wiped his nose as he sniffled.

"What if I become a ghost?"

Jack pulled Danny into his arms and wiped a stray tear from where it rolled down his face.

"Dannyboy, you? A ghost? You're too pure! You'd never become a ghost!"

Giggling, Danny smiled up at Jack again. "Never?"

Jack shook his head, grinning. "Never."


	16. Dinner

Danny sat at the table with Jazz and his dad as they waited for his mom to serve the food. After placing down a plate of bread rolls in the center of the table, she finally strode over with steaming hot bowls.

"Tonight we're having soup!" Maddie cheerily placed a bowl in front of Jazz and Jack and soon brought over a bowl for herself and Danny. The other three started digging right in and when Danny went to dip his spoon in his bowl he nearly dropped it in the "soup", staring at it in horror.

"Mom? What kind of soup is this?" He asked shakily.

"Ectoplasm soup, honey!"

The blood drained from his face and he gripped the table, looking towards Jazz who had just slurped a large spoonful.

"Are you crazy? This'll kill you- us! Why are you serving us ectoplasm soup?!"

"Because it's good for growing, young boys like yourself. Now eat up, Danny."

He snuck another glance towards Jazz only to see the ectoplasm glowing through her cheek, tearing a hole through the flesh. Standing up Danny ripped the bowl away from her, earning him a shout from both Jazz and Maddie.

"Daniel James Fenton! What do you think you're doing?"

"Look at Jazz's face! It's falling apart!"

"There is nothing wrong with Jazz's face. You will give her her bowl back, and you will eat your meal." Maddie's voice held a hint of a growl to it.

Danny slowly placed the bowl back in front of Jazz, watching his mom's gaze on him. He sat back down and picked up his spoon, lowered it into the bowl, and raised it up, meeting his mom's gaze once again.

The sight of her made Danny drop his spoon, sending ectoplasm splashing onto the table. Maddie smiled at him, her eyes a deep iridescent black. Tilting her head to the side at a sharp angle, she spoke to him in a sickly sweet voice.

"Eat your dinner, sweetie."


	17. Gates

The gates that blocked the driveway to the old, abandoned hospital slammed shut just as Tucker reached them. He slammed his fists against the metal before speaking into the Fenton Phones.

"Uh, Danny? We've got a problem. I'm stuck on the hospital grounds." Tucker's gaze shifted warily between trees and bushes on the lot.

He could hear a groan over the headset. "Seriously, Tucker? I thought you were right behind me."

"I was!" Tucker exclaimed. "I just… Tripped. I thought I heard something." Anxiety was starting to seep it's way into his voice.

Danny sighed. "We already checked the place out. There's nothing there. I'll be back in a minute or two." The line cut.

Tucker continued to stare past the gate, waiting for Danny to come back. Just as he saw Danny's glow through the trees, he heard the crunch of a leaf behind him and he froze.

He slowly turned around to see a decaying nurse hobbling towards him. His heart rate spiked and he started yelling.

"Danny! Hurry up! Something's here!"

More limping nurses and doctors filed out of the foliage. The first one made her way to Tucker, grabbing him. They overpowered him until they dragged him away, yelling.

When Danny finally arrived the gates were opened. He furrowed his brows, looking around for Tucker. Something caught his attention, and his eyes widened when he realized what it was.

A pair of Fenton Phones were laying on the ground.


	18. Locks

"The locks not working!" Tucker yelled into the Fenton Phones. "It won't turn!"

"Tucker, what's going on? Why can't Danielle phase you guys out?!"

"She's destabilizing again, Danny! Vlad hit her with some new weapon and her feet started turning to goo! She can't go intangible, let alone go ghost!"

A bang sounded at the door, nearly sending Tucker toppling over onto Danielle as it opened. As it slammed shut once more he tried turning the lock again, cheering as it twisted into place.

"We got the door locked! We need backup now!"

"Me and Sam are on the way. Hang tight until we can get there."

Tucker turned around to look at Danielle and his eyes widened. She sat in the corner taking quick, shallow breaths as she stared at the wall. A green glow came from the floor, a trail of ectoplasm seeping from her feet.

"Dani." Tucker knelt down and put his hands on her shoulders. "You need to calm down. I know this is scary but your anxiety is making the destabilization progress faster."

She shook her head, eyes clenched shut as a shaky breath left her. "I thought Danny fixed me. I thought I was okay. Why-" She choked on her words before letting out a raw yell. "Why did he have to do this to me?"

Tucker scowled. "Vlad is a good for nothing fruitloop. He-"

A growl sounded outside the door, Tucker covered Dani's mouth in an attempt to stifle the whimpers coming from her. Slowly, the beast walked away. Tucker let out a breath in relief.

It didn't last for long as Tucker saw Dani's feet again.

"Dani, you need to-"

Suddenly another loud bang sounded against the door, the huff of an angry animal's nostrils flaring on the other side. A second bang, a third. At the fourth they could hear the creaking of the door handle.

"The lock isn't going to hold!" Dani screamed.

Just as the door burst open, shots fired from an ectogun could be heard in the hallway and Tucker and Dani were scooped up off the ground.

"Sam, I got them! Let's go!"

As Tucker watched Sam run, he clutched tightly at the hand wrapped around his waist. His breaths started increasing in speed and the world blurred.

"Tucker?"

He started at his name but turned to see Dani looking at him.

"It was scary, but we're okay now."

Tucker took a deep breath and nodded. They were okay.

They were okay.


	19. Witching Hour

A soft breeze blew through the night sky, ruffling the leaves of the trees surrounding the park. The full moon was shining and the stars were glittering.

Dash watched the fluffy clouds crawl lazily across the sky. It was about… Three in the morning? He had school tomorrow but he was having trouble sleeping again. So instead of staying in bed, staring at the ceiling, he opted to look at the stars.

They twinkled at him, as if they were saying hello. He watched them for a bit before he saw an ethereal glow a ways down the path. This time of night was always pretty quiet, so Dash had an idea of who he would find.

Standing up, he brushed himself off and walked towards the light. After a curve in the trail, he found a specter sitting at the top of the hill, watching the sky.

Phantom's eyes lit up as he watched the stars glitter in the sky, his freckles mimicking the motion. Dash chuckled to himself and walked up to the boy.

"Hey." Phantom startled at the sound of Dash's voice, turning to look at him with wide eyes.

"What are you doing awake? It's three in the morning."

"I couldn't sleep. I could ask you the same thing. Why aren't you in the ghost zone or something?"

Phantom looked back towards the sky. "I have trouble resting on nights as clear as this. I rarely get to see the stars anymore." He groaned, rubbing his eyes. "But man, I'll be tired tomorrow."

Dash leaned back on his hands as he chuckled. "You and me both."

They watched the stars sparkle together in silence. They could hear crickets chirping along with the occasional hoot of an owl.

"You know," Dash started. "I didn't think the witching hour would feel so peaceful. Especially in a haunted town."

Phantom laughed and shook his head. "I think the ghosts finally realized there aren't massive crowds of people to terrorize in the middle of the night. Between midnight and four is usually the quietest."

Dash hummed.

They sat there for awhile until Dash heard a soft snore coming from his right. Phantom was curled up on his side, snoring and letting out the occasional hum.

Dash turned his gaze back towards the sky, content in the dead of night.


	20. Whisper

Shoulders slumped apathetically, Danny walked down the hallway headed toward his next class. He had an english paper due and was not looking forward to another one of those conversations with Lancer.

As he turned the corner, he heard a deep voice talking quietly in front of the office.

"I'm just gonna take him to have a one on one, man to man talk. The boy needs to learn the difference between a man and a fairy."

Danny stopped in his tracks, shoulders rising in apprehension.

Lancer hummed, eyes squinting. "Mr. Baxter, why should I let your son out early so you can talk to him about this? Can't it wait until he gets home after school lets out?"

"The longer he's here the longer he's around that other pansy. He needs to learn his lesson."

Danny's breath hitched in his throat and he turned and went back around the corner.

Running down the hall towards the janitor closet, his heart was jumping in his chest. How did Dash's dad find out? What was he planning on doing?

He turned another corner and smashed into a wide, muscular chest and fell to the floor. Looking up he found Dash standing above him. Danny started to stand but Dash picked him up and pinned him against the lockers.

"Watch where you're going, Fentina!" He yelled.

"Shh! Dash, let me go! I don't have time for this!"

"You have all the time in the world if I say so! What's got your panties in a twist?"

Danny wriggled in Dash's grip, trying to pry Dash's hand from his shirt. "My panties aren't in a twist! I need to leave!"

"Skipping school again, Fenton?"

"I'm not-"

Danny stopped when he picked up on two sets of footsteps and the voices of Lancer and Mr. Baxter coming down the other hallway. His eyes widened in panic and he gripped at Dash's hands where they clutched onto his shirt.

In a soft voice, Danny leaned forward and whispered into Dash's ear.

"You need to leave!"

Dash chuckled, pushing harder into Danny's chest. "Why do I need to leave? Are you gonna tattle on me?"

Danny groaned, and with barely a breath whispered out a reply that wiped the smirk off Dash's face.

"Your dad is here."

Dash's face turned white and he stuttered out a tilted laugh. "Pft. Why does it- why does it matter if my dad is here?"

Danny glanced down the hallway and looked back at Dash.

"He knows."

Furrowing his brow, Dash looked away. There were a lot of things that Dash could have done that his dad found out about. Drinking, partying, tee-peeing the neighbors house. What could he-

Dash stared, his mouth open as he looked at Danny only to be met with very familiar radioactive green eyes. He shook his head and dropped Danny to the floor and backed away.

"He knows? Both of you know? How did-" Dash groaned, burying the heel of his hands in his eye sockets, hands shaking.

"Dash-" Danny stood up and reached for Dash who pulled away.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" He cried.

"Dash now it not the time. We need to-" Danny's head whipped to the left, ears picking up the two pairs of feet just around the corner. His hand shot out and grabbed Dash's arm, pulling him against his chest and out of the middle of the hallway. Just as they faded from sight, Lancer and Mr. Baxter rounded the corner, confused expressions on their faces.

The look of confusion on Mr. Baxter's face morphed into one of rage as he stomped down the hall past them.

"That damn boy! Where the hell did he go?!"

"Mr. Baxter watch your language and volume! Students are in the middle of class!"

Danny watched Lancer follow Mr. Baxter down the hallway and around another corner before he let out a breath and glanced up to look at Dash's face. His eyes were glazed and he was looking in the direction the two adults had gone in.

"Dash?" Danny whispered, shrinking away and loosening his hold on Dash's arm.

At the movement Dash looked down and grabbed Danny's hand before it could go back to his side.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Dash's voice was shaking, his hand trembling.

Danny looked down and away. "I didn't… We started hanging out with me as Phantom and when you told me… I didn't want you to think I had been tricking you."

Dash looked away and started when Danny spoke up again and started pulling him down the hallway.

"We need to get you out of here though. He didn't seem to have a civil conversation in mind."

Nodding, Dash let himself be dragged, his stomach tossing and turning in dread of what his dad had in store.


	21. Loyalty

Rubble flew over Tucker's shoulder, hitting him in the back as a crash could be heard in the pavement. Dread bubbled in his stomach and he turned around to see who had fallen into the road.

His stomach threatened to spill its contents when Tucker saw Danny laying in a crater. Of course. Who else could it have been?

The ghost they had been fighting cackled in the sky above them. Tucker fired a shot with his Fenton Lipgloss, sending it fleeing away.

He collapsed to his knees beside Danny. He had taken quite a beating this time. There was a nasty scratch on his stomach, but as long as he didn't-

The familiar whites rings appeared around Danny's waist and traveled along his body. The scratch on Danny's stomach started bleeding more profusely, pooling at a faster rate. Tucker whirled into a panic, pressing down on the injury to try and stop the bleeding. With a bloody hand, he pulled his phone out and pressed the call button for Sam just as a voice spoke behind him.

"Your friend doesn't have time for that, child." A woman's voice glided gently through the air, her soft tone chilling him.

"Well what else am I supposed to do? He's bleeding out!" Tucker snapped, turning his head to glare at the woman.

She wasn't necessarily ghostly, but she wasn't human either. Her eyes sparkled a myriad of colors and her hair was a stark white.

"His time is up. This is when fate destined him to leave the world."

Tears pooled in Tucker's eyes, one fell down his cheek and he rubbed it away with a shoulder and looked back at Danny. Danny who was still bleeding out.

The woman spoke up again. "There is one thing you can do."

"Yeah? Like what?" He croaked.

"You could give a life for a life. You could save him in exchange for someone else."

Tucker whipped his head back around to stare at her in horror. "I'm not going to kill someone else! We're trying to prevent people from dying!"

"It doesn't have to be someone else."

Tucker's eyes went wide and he stared down at Danny. Could he do that? How did he know that this woman wasn't tricking him? Isn't that what a lot of paranormal creatures are known for? Lies and mischief?

"He'll be gone soon. You have to make a decision now. What will it be, child?"

Looking at Danny's face, his black hair, those tiny freckles, Tucker nodded and moved to grasp onto one of his hands.

"Okay… I'll do it. Just, please. Save him."

Tucker could feel his heartbeat in his chest. The wind blowing around him. The weight of magic as it gave life back to his friend in exchange for his own.

And then he couldn't feel anything.

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

Danny's eyes opened slowly, his lids feeling like the weight Sam benchpressed was placed on top of them. He looked around and saw that he was still outside. He had made a crater in the ground and sirens were starting to sound off in the distance.

"Tuck…" He croaked. "Tucker…"

"Sh." A gentle voice spoke to him. He didn't recognize it. His head lolled to the side, gaze landing on a woman.

"Where's… Where's my friend?"

"You're lucky to have friends with such loyalty and love for you."

Danny stared at her, confused. "What?"

"You were dying. Your friend made the very courageous decision to trade his time for yours."

The world around Danny stopped, his vision dwindled and his head went fuzzy.

"No… Why would he… Why- Why would you let him do that?"

"He loved you."

Danny shook his head. "No.. Bring him back."

"I can't do that."

Tears started pooling in Danny's eyes. "You brought me back. So bring Tucker back!"

"He's already gone."

Covering his face with his hands, Danny started sobbing. Tears ran down his cheeks and his body shook.

"Danny? Danny?!"

Suddenly Sam was there, shaking his shoulder. Asking what happened. What happened to Tucker? Why was his shirt so bloody? Where was he losing all this blood from?

He pulled his hands from his face to point at the woman, but when he looked up she was gone.

Burying his face in Sam's lap, Danny sobbed. Sam rubbed a shaky hand against his back, gripping him just as intensely with her other hand.

Soon the sound of Danny's sobs were masked by the wailing of ambulance sirens.


	22. Social Media

Wes stared at the phone clenched in his hand, the screen glaring harshly against his face in the dark room he holed himself up in.

He finally did it. He finally exposed Danny to the world. He had thought this would convince everyone that he wasn't crazy. Maybe it would get him his friends back. Maybe even get him a little publicity.

It did get him publicity but it was far from what he had ever wanted.

Once the video Wes sent in to the local news station played on tv it wasn't long until everyone in town saw it. Everyone was shocked, confused. Some were filled with guilt. Others were filled with hatred.

The GIW were an organization that everyone in town knew about. They had started up about a year and looked like a joke. Nobody realized the power they actually had.

A few days after the reveal, the GIW stormed into the school with a warrant for Danny's arrest under some ecto law. Why were there even ecto laws in the first place?

After they took Danny away all of Wes's classmates shot him dirty looks. Threw insults at him. Dash even clocked him a good one in the eye.

People on the streets even started harassing Wes. Adults that he didn't even know would come up and start screaming at him. About how he got the town hero, a child, arrested to be experimented on.

Things had escalated so much that people were throwing bricks in their windows at home. His dad and Vlad decided they would be staying in the millionaire's mansion. Wes hasn't left the house since.

He did go online though. There was so much. People were yelling at him, all very upset. There was one day when people were reporting on how after about a month Danny escaped the GIW base. He made it pretty far out of town but eventually a fleet of armed vehicles cruised back into the city limits. He hasn't been seen since.

People speculated that Danny was dead by now. Dead dead. It'd been months since he escaped. And they must've amped the security after that stunt.

But now… Wes stared at the bright phone inches from his face, locked alone in this room.

There were news reports of Danny's death circulating. How an experiment went awry. The GIW seemed to have no remorse.

His phone was blowing up. Notification after notification of people sending him links, harassing him, spewing insults and vitriol.

_This is all your fault!_

_ Danny's dead because of you!_

_ Is this what you wanted, Weston?_

_ It should've been you!_

With shaking hands, Wes threw his phone across the room and gripped his hair.

This wasn't what he wanted. This wasn't ever what he wanted. It was so obvious. He just wanted people to see what was right in front of them. He never wanted Danny to die.

Wes curled up into a ball, messages flitting through his brain.

_You should have been him!_

_ What kind of monster are you?_

_ You don't deserve to live._

Wes's grip slowly loosened on his hair. He felt himself fading away, sinking into the darkness. His hand fell to the floor and stilled.


	23. Curse

Kwan stomped after Dash as he walked away. Anger and frustration was written on his face.

"Dash what has been up with you lately?" Kwan asked. "You've been ignoring all of us."

"I don't want to talk about it." Dash ground out. He sped up, trying to leave Kwan behind but his friend only jogged to catch back up.

"Would you just talk to me? You would feel so much better if only you just-"

Dash whipped around to face Kwan. "No! It would just make me feel stupid!"

Kwan stopped short of running into Dash, scowling. "Feelings don't make you stupid, Dash. You do well enough on your own."

Dash clenched his teeth together and glared at Kwan. "What does it even matter?"

Kwan sighed. "I care about you. I want to know what's bothering you so I can help. What's bothering you so much, that you literally tried to drown Fenton in the toilet today."

"I wasn't trying to drown him!" Dash exclaimed.

Rolling his eyes, Kwan sent Dash a skeptical look. "It was a glorified swirly."

Kwan poked Dash in the chest. "Why have you been so hard on him lately anyways? You stuffed in a locker for the first time in a long time-"

"He always manages to get out of them anyways! What does it matter?"

"-and you stole his history homework. You already had it done, Dash."

"I lost mine!" Dash shouted as he turned around to walk away. Wanting to be done with this conversation.

"The one you turned in was yours!"

"Kwan, can you just-"

"No! What's got you all worked up? Why are you so-"

"Because I like him!"

Silence filled the air between them, shocking and heavy. Kwan stared at the back of Dash's head and his raised shoulders.

"I… I like Fenton. Danny."

"Then why do you-"

"I don't know!" Dash yelled, throwing his arms up in the air. He gave a rushed laugh, running a hand through his hair. "It's fucked up, isn't it? I've got a thing for the kid I've been wailing on for years."

"When did you realize you liked him?" Kwan asked softly.

Dash shook his head. "We were working on some project that Lancer paired us up for and it was going pretty normally. Neither of us were working on anything and we were arguing but at some point… I managed to make him laugh." Dash looked at Kwan. "I don't know if you've noticed, but he doesn't laugh as much anymore."

He rubbed his hands over his face, groaning.

"These feelings are like a curse. I can't get rid of them and they frustrate me. I don't know how to deal with them because they're so intense and he hates me."

Kwan watched as Dash grimaced.

"Well, maybe that's where you can start."

"Huh?" Dash sent a confused look at Kwan.

"Start with apologizing. Stop bullying him and his friends. That'd raise you from asshole to moron."

Dash rolled his eyes and shot a nervous glance towards his friend. "Do you think I could really have a shot?"

Kwan patted Dash's shoulder. "Not right now. You're still at asshole level, remember?" He cracked a grin.

"Yeah, yeah." Dash swatted Kwan's hand away. "Thanks."

"Anytime, man."


	24. Shattered

The wind was howling through the trees in the dense forest. Rain fell from the clouds, soaking the grass below. There was no trace of the moon in the sky, sending the woods into a deep blackness.

A figure ran through the trees, breath coming from their chest rapidly as tears streamed down their face. Their foot caught on a hidden tree root and they were sent toppling to the ground. Lightning struck, followed by a clap of thunder, and lit up the muddy figure lying on the ground among the leaves.

Dash Baxter lay on the ground, his hand clenched into a fist as it rose up and down to repeatedly hit the squishy dirt.

He'd messed up. He'd messed up real bad.

They had to go on this school camping trip and Dash had thought, what better time to confess his feelings? He'd been trying to follow Kwan's advice, had apologized to Danny a couple weeks ago. They weren't friends or anything but they got along a little better now.

But Dash had pulled Danny aside as everyone else was heading to their tents. He told Danny and as the other boy's eyes widened and he shuffled on his feet, Dash's heart fell.

He hadn't seemed to be disgusted by the idea but he began to spout off all these reasons why it wouldn't work. It's not the right time. He has too much going on.

Dash had stared past Danny's shoulder, horror filling his stomach. He knew and Danny didn't feel the same way. What if he told someone? There was no doubt he'd tell his two best friends. What if they told someone else? What if word spread around so much it got back to his dad?

At that thought, Dash had taken off into the trees, the rain just starting. He ignored Danny's yell. He just kept running through the darkness.

Laying on the ground, he began to make his way to his hands and knees. Another sob wracked his body and he laid his forehead against the mud as he angrily hit the ground, heart shattered.

"Dash!"

His head jolted up and whipped around as he heard the call of his name. Scrawny little Danny Fenton had followed him into the pitch black forest.

Dash tried to quiet his sobs, hoping Danny wouldn't hear him and would turn back. He didn't know when he'd be able to face the other boy.

"Dash! I know you're out here! We need to get back to camp! It's not safe!"

He scoffed. What did Fenton care if he was safe or not?

Footsteps sounded a ways to Dash's left, leaves crunching as Danny drew closer.

"Dash, where are-"

Lightning lit up the forest once again, Dash and Danny's gazes met in the split second of light.

"Dash, stay there. I'm coming to get you." Danny's footsteps started moving confidently towards him in the dark.

"No. Leave me alone." Dash grumbled.

"Dash we're in the middle of a thunderstorm. I'm not leaving you out-"

Another crack of lightning flashed in the air, followed by a horrible cracking sound. One of the trees behind Dash began to creak and he felt everything slow as it started falling.

Just before the tree squashed him, Dash was barreled out of the way. He rolled and flipped over a few times before he stopped. Raising his head, he looked up to glance at where the tree was laying. Where he'd been a moment ago.

A groan sounded to his right. Danny.

"What the hell, man?!" Dash shouted. "You could've been killed!"

Danny scoffed. "Well you would have been killed. You're welcome."

Silence fell between them, Dash's hands shaking. Another sob forced its way from Dash's throat and he heard Danny sigh before a hand was gently placed on his shoulder.

"Let's get back to camp."

Dash heard Danny stand and a hand met his arm, helping to pull him up. Together, they trudged back to camp to be met with an upset Lancer.

Danny's tight grip never left the whole way back.


	25. Routine

It was a bright sunny day as Wes walked down the street. He had just gotten out of school and his day had actually gone pretty well. Nobody called him Phantom or made fun of him. It was good.

He was planning on just relaxing as soon as he got home. Kicking his shoes off and playing video games. Maybe he'll even go to sleep early.

He passed a bench and stopped in his tracks as he saw something shiny on the ground.

"Oh, wow! A quarter!"

Wes bent down to pick it up, studying the quarter. Year 1961.

Pocketing the coin, he continued on his way home.

It was a bright sunny day as Wes walked down the street. He had just gotten out of school and his day had actually gone pretty well. Nobody called him Phantom or made fun of him. It was good.

Wes squinted, deja vu hitting him. What was that about?

Something on the ground caught his attention and he bent down next to a bench to pick it up.

"Cool! A quarter!"

He tossed it into the air and pocketed it.

It was a bright sunny day as Wes walked down the... street... He had just gotten out of school and his day had actually gone pretty well. Nobody called him Phantom or made fun of him. It was good.

Wes's eyebrows furrowed as he glanced at the bench that approached him. Shouldn't he have been home by now?

He saw a coin on the ground and something in him was telling him not to pick it up, to leave and head home. But who would pass up on free money?

He picked it up, listened as the metal scraped against the concrete, and held it in his hand.

It was a bright sunny day-

That bench… Hasn't he passed it already?

There's a quarter on the ground.

Wes went to pocket the quarter he already held in his hand, but when he opened his grip inside his pocket there was nothing there.

He ripped his hand out and looked at it, eyes wide.

"What the hell?" He whispered.

He picked up the second quarter off the ground and held it as he walked. Watching it. A bird flew over his head, causing him to duck and break his gaze with the quarter. When he looked back, it was gone and the bench was to the right of the sidewalk again.

Slowly, Wes approached the quarter and picked it up, studying it. 1961.

Anger burned through his veins and he chucked the quarter off in the distance. Bringing his hands up to his mouth, Wes began shouting into the sky.

"Fenton! I know this is your fault! Knock it off, I'm trying to get home!"

Unaware to Wes, he was being watched from a cloud of ectoplasm deep in the ghost zone.

"Uh, Clockwork?" Danny stammered. "Not that this isn't hilarious, but don't you think we should stop?"

"I supposed." Clockwork chuckled. "One more time?"

Danny grinned mischievously. "Why not."

The sound of incoherent shouting could be heard for miles.


	26. Soul

"Come on, Vladdy. What's wrong?"

Vlad sulked in the corner. Him, Jack, and Maddie had been playing monopoly while the kids were gone and things got heated. Maddie had gotten up with a look and said she was going to get pizza.

"Nothing's wrong, Jack. Now leave me alone."

He felt Jack plop down in the seat next to him, wrapping an arm around Vlad's shoulder as he smiled at the other man.

"Nope! We're gonna talk about this."

Vlad bristled and tried to pull away from Jack. "Why not have a nice conversation with Maddie once she gets home instead?"

Jack sighed. "Vlad. What's been bothering you? Ever since you contacted us you haven't been yourself. What happened?"

"It's been twenty years, Jack. A lot can change in that time."

"Yeah, but just- What happened to your soul, Vladdy?"

Vlad's shoulders raised and he jumped up from the chair, putting distance between him and Jack. "What happened to my soul?! You destroyed it all those years ago with your bumbling! I spent months cooped up in the hospital, I couldn't show my face at school again, the woman that I loved was stolen from me and-"

"Vlad?" Jack spoke softly, eyebrows furrowed in concern. "You know… I thought… You knew we loved you, right Vladdy? You were our best friend."

Vlad scoffed. "I would've been left behind."

Jack stood up with a frustrated expression on his face. "No you wouldn't have! You were the dessert in our three course meal! Our third blind rat. One of the wheels on the back of a tricycle. We couldn't just leave you behind."

"You guys seemed to deal with my absence alright by the looks of it."

Sighing, Jack walked over to Vlad and put a hand on his shoulder. "You wouldn't answer our calls. You wouldn't answer our letters. Soon we couldn't even find you with your sister. We were worried sick. Maddie…"

He took in a deep breath.

"Maddie thought you hated us. She thought that maybe the accident had finally given you the excuse to be rid of us. She cried for months. It wasn't the same without you."

Vlad was staring blankly at the floor when Jack squeezed his shoulder, making him look up.

"But we're here now, and I know Maddie's been frustrated, but we're not going anywhere. Not again."

Hands shaking, Vlad looked over Jack's shoulder and soon he was being pulled into an embrace. He slowly wrapped his arms around Jack and they stood there until the front door opened. There was a pause before it shut softly, the smell of pizza wafting over to them.

Maddie approached and placed a hand on Vlad's back for a few moments before wrapping her arms around as much of Jack and Vlad as she could.

As Vlad stood there, he felt something in him being calmed. He rested his forehead against Jack's shoulder, and as his lip wobbled tears began to spill out, everything finally being released.


	27. Nothing

There was nothing.

Everything around her was black, darkness. She couldn't see anything for miles. She lay suspended in the air, floating. It wasn't the same as flying though. It was something different.

Where was she? She was sure she'd just been on her way to Tucker's house with Danny. What had happened since then?

Was this even real? Or was this a trick a ghost was playing on her?

She floated there for what felt like hours, though it could have been minutes or even days. There was no way to tell, it just seemed to drag on forever.

Then she felt her body begin to jolt. That was odd. There wasn't really any sensation. Was she hurt?

It happened again, and she shook her head after the motion ended. That time it felt like a hiccup.

They happened at regular intervals. What kind of trick was this? Why puppet her around and not even cause any pain? What was this ghost getting at?

With this next jolt, pain flooded her body and she found her eyes opening, staring up at a white ceiling, a gasp leaving her mouth. The room was much too bright and she could see figures leaning over her. Their voices began to fade in.

"...me? Sam? Are you with us?"

Sam nodded, squinting her eyes at the lights on the ceiling.

"Can you remember what happened?"

Concentrating, Sam tried to recall the events before she was floating in that vast nothingness. She couldn't remember anything past leaving for Tucker's house.

She shook her head.

"That's alright. We need to take you to get prepped for surgery. That ghost-"

The doctor's voice faded from her ears as she felt a cold hand grip her own. She looked around but she couldn't make out anyone.

"My…" Her voice croaked. "My friend. Is he alright?"

The grip on her hand tightened, she recognized it as apprehension. Fear.

The doctor's face filled with sympathy. "His injuries from the ghost attack were too severe. I'm sorry. He didn't make it."

She squeezed the hand clutching onto her own with vice-like intensity. Tears filled her eyes.

"He's dead?"

"Yes." The doctor said softly. "We need to prep you for surgery now."

They wheeled her bed out of the room, the invisible boy holding her hand the whole way there.


End file.
